Finding Reality
by SelMoon
Summary: Life has never been so difficult for Arie Summers. Stuck in a sleepy town for the summer, she gets drawn into an UnSub's plot. Can she help the team before it's too late?Spencer/OC Book 1 of Reality Series.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**_

I do not own Criminal Minds.

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><p><strong>Arie's POV (APOV)<strong>

My phone rang as I was trying to wrestle my cat into her cat carrier. "Shit" I cursed as Laurie scratched at my arms. I held the flailing creature in one hand and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. "Hello" I said, holding the cat as far from my body as physically possible. "Are you sure you want to go, Arie" A soft southern drawl asked.

"I'm certain, Tiffany… they need someone to care for them until I can find them a 'help house'" I said. She huffed. "You can't blame me for wanting someone to hit the clubs with" she said as she walked up to me. My eyes lit up at the sight of the familiar red head.

"I thought you weren't coming" I said, as she reached out her arms for a hug. A stinging pain snapped me back to what I held in my hands. "I'm sorry but I can't hug you until I get this rabid monster into her cage" I winked at her. "Care to help." Tiffany laughed and opened the cat carrier. As quickly as I could, I stuffed the hissing thing into her cage and hinged the lock. I pouted.

"Now I need a Band-Aid" I said, holding out my hand for inspection. She raised an eyebrow at the scratches. "How about Band-Aids" she replied, producing a box out of her pocket. "You're a life saver" I sighed happily as she patched me up.

She snickered. "Actually I've been best friends with a really accident-prone girl named Arie and I've felt the need to carry Band-Aids and Neosporin in my pockets since I was five" she so sarcastically replied.

When she was done fixing me, I enveloped her in a hug. "It's only until the fall semester" I muttered softly. "And it will be just me in the clubs until then" she finished. "Just because you finished high school at 16 and have 2 degrees doesn't mean you can't have fun." I could sense she was about to cry.

I sighed impatiently as I stepped back and looked at her. "How about this" I said, willing to compromise. "When I get back, you can drag me to all the clubs you want and if you want to you can come and visit. It's only three hours away, ya know. It's not like back home when you have to drive 11 hours to get here."

"I know" she sighed, but her expression brightened. "Do you promise?" I smirked at her. "Do I ever break my promises" I told her as I walked to the driver's side of my sensible Honda Accord. "Nope" she replied. I gave her one last hug. "I'll call you after Criminal Minds" she rolled her eyes at my favorite show but nodded and watched as I buckled myself in. She closed the door and stepped back. I started the engine and drove off.

Great… Now it was only me and the radio.

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><p>After a coke, 60 songs, and a bag of tortilla chips later, I arrived at my destination. As I cut off the engine, I smiled at the familiar house. I had spent my childhood summers in this house, being bored out of my mind until I had turned 12 and discovered Criminal Minds. That's when I had decided I wanted to be an FBI agent. After watching four episodes, I had gone online the next day to find out if I could be a profiler.<p>

Imagine my dismay when I had realized that there was no such thing as a 'profiler', but I could still be like one of the team. All I had to do was do all the rigorous training, have a degree, and have twenty-twenty vision. The last thing was hard enough.

When I went home that year and demanded laser eye surgery, my grandparents had been adamant about me not getting it. But after 2 years of throwing temper tantrums, they had finally agreed and three weeks late I could see without glasses. Now all I had to do was apply for a position. I had gone through the training a year ago when I had turned twenty-three. Now that I was twenty-four, I hoped I was ready for the gory and sometimes violent job.

A rumble of thunder in the distance snapped me back to reality. I realized I had better go inside now lest I get rained on. Laurie wouldn't mind. The psychotic creature loved bathes and would do anything for one, rather than avoiding bathing altogether like other members of her species.

I pulled her cat carrier out of the trunk along with my collection of meager belongings, I closed the trunk. Looking around one last time, I walked up the driveway, set Laurie down, and unlocked the door. "Grandma, I'm here" I called.

"In the bedroom, dear" she replied. She sounded a little…odd. Gosh, my life felt like a scene out of Little Red Riding Hood. The girl is sent to deliver some goods for her sick grandmother (and aunt, in my case) - I stopped myself right there. I did not like the thought of being cast in a fairy tale even if it did have a happy ending.

Setting my bags down and letting the psycho out of the cage, I took a look around. Nothing had changed since the last time I had been here. The portraits were still the same and the once-new flat screen television was still in the same spot. I walked into the kitchen, my low-heeled boots (that boosted me up to at least 5'2) clicking on the pavement. Yep… it was still the same. I cast a glance towards the dining room and smiled faintly at the familiar sight. I had spent many years, sitting on that floor and I had always been doing the same thing… Watching Criminal Minds.

Casting one last glance at my favorite room, I walked down the long hallway that led to the bedrooms. Still the same, all the way down to the bookcase at the end. Knocking on my Grandma's door, I waited for her to tell me to enter. "Come in" No wonder she sounded odd… she was rasping. That's when I had the sinking suspicion that no one was going to be going to a nursing home. Entering the room, I crossed over to her bedside.

"Do you need anything, Gran" I asked softly, as I leaned down to kiss her forehead. She glared at me and rolled her eyes. "We already had a nurse and we didn't need any help, Arie" she rasped out. "Your pa didn't need to send you here to watch us." I sighed. "I'll just go get unpacked then." Smoothing her hair from her forehead, I walked out and closed the door behind me.

Crossing the hallway to my room, I leaned against the doorway and marveled at the unchanged appearance of the room. Laurie was already curled on the bed, licking her paws. "Demon" I muttered under my breath as I began unpacking. I was probably the only person in the world who had a cat who loved to injure her. Laurie would do anything to injure me but after I had patched myself up she would come and curl herself on my lap.

I laughed to myself as I placed my last belonging on the dresser and yawned. Glancing down at my watch, I checked for the time. It was 7:30. Criminal Minds started in half an hour. I could make myself dinner and get changed for bed. Flipping through my suitcase, I spotted my favorite over-sized t-shirt. Sliding into the shirt, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and made my way into the kitchen.

The amount of my cooking ability was very small. I could make a fried egg sandwich which was the end of my skills. Pulling the ingredients out of the fridge, I pulled out my phone and set it to music mode. Dancing around the kitchen, I sang along to my favorite songs as I fried the eggs and toasted the bread. The only time I wasn't clumsy was when I was dancing, dancing seemed to bring out the only graceful component of me.

Grabbing a spatula, I held it to my lips as though it was a microphone. "I love you" I began and struck a pose. "But I gotta stay true. My morals got me on my knees. I'm begging please stop playing games. I don't know what this is but you got me good… Just like you knew you would." I'd always been proud of my singing voice; it was my one pride and joy. The sound of applause broke me out of my Duffy- induced trance. I whirled sharply to find Auntie watching me. I pressed my hand to my chest and took a couple of deep breathes. "God, Auntie" I took a glance at her. "Shouldn't you be in bed? I'll bring you your tea at ten 'o' clock." She laughed before crossing over to give me a hug.

"I can't greet my niece" she said, before stepping back. I kissed her on her cheek before shooing her out of the kitchen. "You shall get your tea at 10 and we'll talk then." She walked back into her room and I finished making my dinner. Glancing at the wall clock, I saw that it was almost eight 'o' clock. Pouring myself a cup of ginger-ale, I walked into my favorite room and set my dinner on the table. Flipping the power switch, I turned on the TV and put it on channel 8.

Settling back I began to watch my favorite show. Two episodes later, I drifted off to a dreamless sleep.

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><p><strong>Salem, Massachusetts <strong>

**Unsub's Apartment**

"So what exactly are we looking for" Spencer asked quizzically as the team entered the building. Morgan shrugged. "The unsub seemed to have disappeared into thin air. In my opinion, I think someone killed him but we can never be too sure" he replied. Entering the apartment, Spencer pulled a pair of gloves on. "So basically we have no clue" Spencer concluded. He glanced around the apartment.

It was well furnished and it seemed as though the unsub had been a neat person. Something caught Spencer's eye as he looked around. Strolling over to the bookshelf, he picked the strange object up and before he had a chance to say anything the team disappeared in a blinding flash of white light.

In Quantico, Virginia, A woman named Penelope Garcia disappeared from her desk.

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><p><strong>APOV<strong>

I was being shaken awake. Yawning, I opened my eyes. 8 pairs of eyes gazed down at me. I sat up and glanced down at my inappropriate state. My eyes widened as I looked at myself. "'Excuse me while I go pull on a pair of pants" Running out of the room, I ran into my bedroom and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. When I was suitably dressed to appear before company, I calmly strolled back into the room. "Now" I began, placing my hands on my hips. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my Grandma's house?" I said that before I could take a proper look at them.

Holy shit. I breathed in deeply. "You guys are not real" I said, pointing a finger at them and beginning to back away. A thought occurred to me and I stepped forward. I poked the one that looked like Morgan in the chest before my eyes widened. "My God, you are real" I muttered. I could feel myself starting to get light-headed. Placing a hand over my forehead, I checked for a temperature. "This could be a delusion" I rationalized.

The one that looked like Hotch stepped forward. "Would you mind telling us where we are" he quizzed. The room was starting to spin. I spoke two words before I faded into darkness:

"Bloody Hell"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Criminal Minds.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2- Heart-Stopping Emotions<strong>

**APOV  
><strong> I gained consciousness and found myself in Derek Morgan's arms. I scrambled out of them as soon as I was sure I could stand. "Sorry about that" I said, smiling apologetically. "I tend to faint when fictional characters come out of my television." Pen snickered. "I like her, Chocolate God" she said. I grinned at her. Hotch cleared his throat and I turned my attention to him. "Uhm, Hi" I offered up weakly and held out a hand. "I'm Arie Summers and I know who you are. Please don't think that sounds creepy because it clearly isn't." I tilted my head to the side.

He glanced at my proffered hand before shaking it. "You still haven't answered the question: where are we" he asked again. "You, my friends, are in-"Before I could speak anymore, Spencer held up a hand. "I think I might have had something to do with this" Spencer swallowed nervously before continuing. "I picked up a strange object to bring it to you, Hotch, and then there was this pulling feeling and we were here."

"But that doesn't explain how I ended up her" Penelope piped up. "I was sitting at my desk when this happened." Hotch turned to face me. "Miss. Summers" He began, before I cut him off. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Hotch but please don't call me 'Miss. Summers'… I've always been Arie and I would prefer to keep using that name." I said. "Where is the nearest FBI headquarters, Arie" he finished.

"And I'm sorry to burst your bubble even more" I replied, casting a glance at each of the faces. "But the BAU doesn't exist in this universe as a matter of a fact there is no such thing as a profiler."

I glanced at the wall clock. "I can even prove it to you" I said, picking up the remote from where I had put it. Turning back on the TV, I watched in satisfaction as they looked at their own faces on the television. I turned it off and brought their attention back to me. "I'm sorry that I have to turn it off now" I gestured to the clock. "But it's 12:30 in the morning and I'm tired. We can talk about this in the morning and I have an episode for the girls to watch tonight. Emily, I think you'll remember this. Since I think that you guys are from season 4." I paused and gestured to the door next to me.

'Spencer, David, Derek, and Aaron, you guys, will be sleeping in there… But keep the door open. You don't want to suffocate. The sofa is a bed" I paused yet again and tossed them two pillows. "You can use the sofa cushions as pillows. You don't need a blanket because yet again you will suffocate to death. Emily, JJ, and Pen-"I paused and glared at them.

"Oh don't look so astonished" I scolded. "Yes, I know all of your names. Anyways" Shooting them one last glare, I continued on. "You will be rooming with me. One of you can have my bed. I'm perfectly fine with a pillow and a blanket on the floor. I'll put on the show as soon as we get in there. Got it? Good. Night."

The girls could only follow as I left the boys standing there with their mouths hanging open. I strode towards my bedroom purposely. "Can you guys wait in here" I quizzed. "I have to tell my Gran that I have people staying over and borrow two more pillows." They nodded and entered the room. Knocking on Gran's door, I entered her room. I quickly scribbled down a note and placed it down on her bed table. Grabbing two pillows, I sneaked out of the room, shut the door, and entered my door. "Catch" I said, tossing Emily and JJ a pillow and closing the door behind me.

Yawning deeply, I opened up my laptop, navigated to my Criminal Minds folder, and picked out the 'Minimal Loss' episode. "There you go" I said, pulling my favorite blanket off of the bed. Laurie hissed as I dragged her blanket from under her. I paused, holding the blanket in one hand. "Are any of you allergic to cats" Each of the girls shook their head. I placed spaces for three people on the floor and lay down in my own spot. "Take your pick" I said, gesturing to the remaining spaces.

Once they had lain down, I pressed play and sighed dreamily. "Spencer was magnificent during this case" The girls exchanged glances and my face heated. "Oh yeah and one last thing: DON'T profile me" That was all I said before we watched the episode. Soon it ended and Emily wiped away a stray tear before turning on her side to face me. "It's disconcerting to see yourself as a TV show" she muttered under her breath.

I chewed on my bottom lip before making up my mind. "Tomorrow, I'm going to rent a four bedroom apartment and we'll live there until I can figure this out" I told her. She opened her mouth to speak but I held up a hand. "I don't need anyone's money and besides it isn't good here" I said. "Besides, I have my college fund that I didn't need. We can use that." They were shocked into silence yet again. "Tomorrow morning, we can talk but right now I'm tired… JJ, Can you turn off the light" I asked.

She nodded and turned it off. It had been determined that JJ should have the bed since she had just gotten back from maternity leave. This made me realize exactly what episode we were in. "My god" I breathed. I rolled on my side so that I was facing the bed. "JJ" I whispered, loud enough for her to hear if she was still awake. "Hmmmm" she muttered drowsily. "How are Haley and Jack?" I quizzed. "Fine" she replied, before yawning slightly. The return of the Boston Reaper didn't happen in the show for another month, judging by JJ's response.

If I went into their reality, I could save her… I could save Hotch all the pain. I could, I could… Those were my last thoughts before I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

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><p>The next morning, I got up before the rest of the team and went to fix breakfast for eight people. Looking at the carton of eggs, I calculated how much eggs and toast I would have to make. 8 people equaled at least 16 eggs cracked and put into the pan. Since I knew- or assumed – that everyone liked toast, I made 16 slices. Wiping my forehead from the heat in the kitchen, I made my way over to the old fridge and pulled out the juice cartons, along with the butter, and shredded cheese.<p>

Setting that all on the table, I heaped the eggs onto one large plate and placed the plate in the middle of the table. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder as I was pulling glasses out of the cabinet. "Fuck" I cursed, the glasses almost slipping out of my hand. I whirled around to face Spencer Reid and my face immediately heated up. He stood there rubbing his eyes, looking adorable in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else.

I blushed harder and placed the glasses on the table to give me time to compose myself. "You scared the crap out of me" I told him. He smiled at me. "Sorry" Then, he glanced at the table. "Wow… That's a lot of food." I laughed humorlessly. "Feeding 8 people is a very hard job… I don't know how my mum did it" I replied. "'Did it'" he quoted. The smile slipped from my face and I began piling toast on plate. "My Ma and my step-dad died when I was 16" That was all I offered and he didn't push me. Placing the toast on table, I stood back and rested my hands on hips.

"A job well done… if I must say so myself" I commented smugly. "I'm going to go wake up the girls… Can you get Morgan, Rossi, and Hotch?" He nodded and I danced down the hallway to my bedroom. Pushing the door open, I marveled at the people lying in there. Completely fictional yet utterly real… my life seemed full of contradictions.

I started with JJ first. I shook her shoulder lightly and her eyelids flickered and she sighed. "Come on, JJ" I said softly. "Time to get up… Breakfast is on the table." She yawned and sat up, stretching. "Morning, Arie" she gave me a warm smile and used the hair tie on her wrist to tie up her hair. "Go join Spencer in the kitchen while I wake up the others" I suggested. She gave me one last grin, inched around Pen's sleeping form, and went to join the others in the kitchen.

I moved onto Penelope next. She wasn't too hard to wake…especially with the promise of coffee (which I had all the intention of getting from Starbucks later on). But as I moved on to wake Emily, Pen spoke. "Not so fast, Arie. Sit down so you and Mama Penelope can chat it out, Darling Girl. "I raised an eyebrow at the nickname but complied and sat next to her, folding my legs underneath myself.

"Now" she began, waggling her eyebrows in a way that made me blush. "I've noticed that you, Darling Girl, have a crush on our resident genius. I'm not sure if the team did but word of warning: When they find out expect no end to the teasing."

She paused and watched with great amusement as the top of my ears to the tip of my toes turned red. I was pretty sure there was no part of my body left that was not touched by embarrassment. "Damn" I muttered, making sure she could hear me. "And you're not even a profiler." Garcia grinned at me. "I can see that you to will be perfect, I can't wait to start planning the wedding" she squealed.

"Now wait a minute" my southern accent slipped out. "There ain't gonna be a wedding any time soon." I almost didn't hear the 'Wanna Bet' that slipped out of Pen's mouth. I drew myself to my impressive stature of 5'0, which was not that impressive. I was a couple of inches away from legally being declared a midget. "As a matter of a fact I do" I said proudly. "If Spencer and I get married within a year… I will turn all wedding preparations over to you and JJ." Pen squealed excitedly and hugged me.

"You're welcome" I muttered. "Now let me wake up Emily and you go on and get your breakfast." Pen complied willingly enough, leaving the room without another murmur. I sat still for a couple of minutes and willed myself to go back to normal. After I did that, I crossed over to Emily and gently shook her awake. "Coffee" she mumbled. I laughed. Everybody on the team seemed to rely on coffee. "You'll get it when I get Morgan to drive to the nearest Starbucks while I take a run" I replied, holding out a hand.

She took it and let me pull her up. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she yawned. "I'm so flippin' tired" she moaned. I laughed again this time at her tone and I had just realized nobody on the team really cursed. "No wonder… we went to bed at 2:30 in the morning" I paused and glanced at the alarm clock. "It is now 9:45. You had 8 hours and some change of sleep. I got up at 8:45 to fix breakfast so be grateful."

Emily had finally composed herself so that she was able to function. I glanced down at her wrinkled suit and raised an eyebrow. "I need to take you guys shopping" I said as we arrived in the kitchen. I plopped myself down in between Spencer and Garcia then began piling my plate full of food. After I had poured myself some juice, I was finally prepared enough to talk.

"You want answers" I asked and waited for them to nod. When they nodded I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Well, you're about to get some"


End file.
